D&D DMing 101

[Celexei]

So anywho, I've been playing D&D for a few years now and I've just started gettin into wanting to DM. I've ran two successful and supposedly "fun" (from the players standpoint) adventures, but I'm just not satisfied. I didn't have any traps or anything set up and my creative roleplay was off. I'm just cuirous from those out there with experience...what kind of things do you add into your adventures to spice things up, add heightened tension, and make the players REALLY get into your games? I'm thinking about having reoccuring PC's whether the be antagonists or otherwise. Anywho n00b humbling herself to the masses.

[Sean of the Thread]

You signature is larger than your run on paragraph.

[AnticorRifling]

Anywho n00b humbling herself to the masses.


Seems like your roleplay is spot on.

[Methais]

So anywho, I've been playing D&D for a few years now and I've just started gettin into wanting to DM. I've ran two successful and supposedly "fun" (from the players standpoint) adventures, but I'm just not satisfied. I didn't have any traps or anything set up and my creative roleplay was off. I'm just cuirous from those out there with experience...what kind of things do you add into your adventures to spice things up, add heightened tension, and make the players REALLY get into your games? I'm thinking about having reoccuring PC's whether the be antagonists or otherwise. Anywho n00b humbling herself to the masses.

Just do what the GS GMs do and turn on god mode, kill everybody with no chance to get hurt, then talk about how awesome you are are DMing and that you had to turn on god mode because your storyline is so l33t you couldn't risk anyone messing it up.

[Sean of the Thread]

I've actually had some great fun using the NWN with a few friends and a DM... I hate pen and paper but NWN made it tons of fun. It's so much more involved when playing it on a computer with friends but still knowing it's your DM friend who set it all up.

[Back]

I have like 100 lbs of old D&D stuff... all the original books, lots of the original supplements and modules... the Basic set. (no dice) I even have the little Blackmoor and Greyhawk books they wrote prior to the D&D stuff.

I’ll sell it by the pound?

My only advice is, make them think, but be benevolent. The DM provides the action, excitement, mystery and drama. Killing off your party doesn't make for a great campaign.

[Landrion]

So anywho, I've been playing D&D for a few years now and I've just started gettin into wanting to DM. I've ran two successful and supposedly "fun" (from the players standpoint) adventures, but I'm just not satisfied. I didn't have any traps or anything set up and my creative roleplay was off. I'm just cuirous from those out there with experience...what kind of things do you add into your adventures to spice things up, add heightened tension, and make the players REALLY get into your games? I'm thinking about having reoccuring PC's whether the be antagonists or otherwise. Anywho n00b humbling herself to the masses.

Preparation is helpful. Utilize the resources at www.wizards.com. They have free maps, unique critters and storyline ideas to help you. Maps are especially useful. Have a stack of 10 or more printed out that you can randomly pull out if the players decide to go exploring somewhere. Theres at least one sourcebook of traps you can get your hands on.

Another prep tool I find useful is a random name generator. Have a website generate a sheet of 50 to 100 names so that when the players stop a random NPC on the streets you have a name to assign them. My last campaign was Star Wars so I used this site: http://www.dimfuture.net/starwars/random/index.php

Dont get too hung up on mechanics. Dungeon crawling and hack/slashing are fun, but a meaningful story is better. The challenge of being a DM over a writer is that you dont know what the main characters are going to do. Be flexible, dont try to shoehorn the PCs into something they dont want to do. Instead quiz them about what theyd like in a campaign. Many players will happily supply you with storylines theyd like around their character.

Like any skill, your DM'ing will get better with practice. Dont be uptight about making mistakes. In tandem with what I said about being flexible, dont be afraid to tell the party theyve taken a direction you werent well prepared for. That you might need an hour or so to re-think and they should have snacks/tv/chat time while you do.

Lastly, seek feedback. Find out from your players what they like and where they thought it was weak.

[Warriorbird]

Play in as many games as possible run by other GMs. You'll get an awareness of things that work and things that don't work. Having strong players is nearly as important as having a good GM. There's a lot of great resources on the philosophy of it (White Wolf and Shadowrun both have a number) but nearly as important is just doing it.

[StrayRogue]

Download as much source material as you can. All the 3.5 stuff is free on Bit Torrent etc.

Be a good people person. Learn how to control and guide a group. Theres nothing worse than seeing a noob GM fail to stop a bunch of sugar-crazed players totally waste his campaign by slaughtering everything or completely going off on a tangent.

[zhelas]

I haven't played in a long time. You spend all this time creating this adventure trying to make it incredibly awesome and it never goes the way you want it to. Flexibility is key.

Also... Keeping it simple will make it fun as well. I have found that many of the players will roleplay between themselves for an entire evening. And they haven't left the tavern yet.

The NWN is a good idea. Play some of the top 20 modules that people have created and it will help spark ideas.